The sporty and the not so sporty join together to cheer for their own favorite schools for the UAAP sports competition in the Philippines.
I have heard of UAAP ever since God-knows-only-when but then I was not really into it until I came to watch a women's volleyball game between Ateneo and De La Salle University.
The UAAP stands for University Athletics Association of the Philippines which is a sports association to eight universities in the country. It comprises 14 sports which are divided to three divisions, Seniors', Juniors' and Women's.
Among the three divisions, I am most interested in the women's and to a specific sport which is Volleyball.
I do have a favorite team but let me share to you the history and how the sport had become popular now in the Philippines together with Basketball.
Here are the schools and their teams.
Far Eastern University
The FEU team signify the Tamaraw as their mascot for all their athletic teams and so they named themselves as tamaraws. The women's volleyball team of FEU call themselves as Lady Tamaraw Spikers.
FEU Lady Tamaraw Spikers is still the most number of UAAP Championship with 29 champions for the past years.
These are the seasons when they won the title:
UAAP 15 Champion
UAAP 17 Champion
UAAP 18 Champion
UAAP 19 Champion
UAAP 21 Champion
UAAP 22 Champion
UAAP 25 Champion
UAAP 26 Champion
UAAP 29 Champion
UAAP 32 Champion
UAAP 33 Champion
UAAP 34 Champion
UAAP 35 Champion
UAAP 36 Champion
UAAP 39 Champion
UAAP 45 Champion
UAAP 44 Champion
UAAP 46 Champion
UAAP 47 Champion
UAAP 49 Champion
UAAP 52 Champion
UAAP 54 Champion
UAAP 57 Champion
UAAP 58 Champion
UAAP 61 Champion
UAAP 63 Champion
UAAP 64 Champion
UAAP 65 Champion
UAAP 70 Champion
Aside from that, it is also the team which had produced top volleyball players in the country. One of team is Rachel Anne Daquis.
The team's color is green and yellow.University of Santo Tomas
The team was called Glowing Goldies but was changed since 1992 and they now call themselves as UST Growling Tigers as a whole however, for their volleyball team, they call themselves Lady Tigresses.
The team also have notable players and even in the season to come, the they hae rookies who are also showing their talents in terms of volleyball games.
The Tigresses have 14 UAAP Volleyball crowns.
The gold and white colors of the flag of the Vatican City were adopted by University of Santo Tomas as its school colors because of its Pontifical status.
University of the East
Dubbed as one of the underdogs of the women's volleyball collegiate competition but they are still going to aim for good games in the upcoming season.
They call themselves as the UE Lady Red Warriors. On the upcoming season, they have rookies too who will be joining the team and will hopefully lift up their team as a whole.
Their color is obviously red.
De La Salle University
The team which has established a good reputation in terms of collegiate volleyball games in the said association. They had won succeeding number of seasons and has been a famous school in terms of women volleyball games.
They have won a total of eight (8) titles winning these games in succeeding times, first on 2003-2005 and 2011-2013.
In season 2013-2014 with the will of capturing a 4-peat title and their 9th title, La Salle made a remarkable second 14-0 win loss eliminations sweeps record, making them the first women's team to gain such.
The Lady Spikers currently holds the longest winning game streak in UAAP history.
They are wearing green and white uniform.
University of the Philippines, Diliman
The Lady Maroons as how they call themselves is the team representing the University of the Philippines, Diliman.
Most of their players from the previous season has already graduated college and so this year, they have more rookies than the senior ones.
However, they have showed competence so far with the previous seasons and there are players who are now trying to also play their game within the court for the UAAP games.
One of them is Jewel Lai and Monica Ortiz and also Nicole Tiamzon.
Their uniform color signifies the UP community as Maroon.
Adamson University
Adamson's school choice is a falcon as their symbolic mascot. Because Falcons sour high before inflicting harm on its prey, they too soar high to defeat their opponents specially in the volleyball games.
Wearing Blue and White, the women's team call themselves as Lady Falcons.
The Lady Falcons has been very competitive in the volleyball games for the past previous seasons and had also been a challenge to the top teams. As for this, the other school teams are considering the Lady Falcons as a strong contender.
The team also has been noted as the relaxed and poised kind of team. Their tag line is "Set your Goals High, and don't stop till you get there."
National University
Lady Bulldogs as they refer themselves and has been one of the top teams in this collegiate association. They had been really competitive and are known to have strong blocking abilities because of thei tall players.
Based on the previous years, they are the team which has been aiming for Gold but were not able to do so because of the teams like Ateneo and La Salle.
However, they have very famous team players now specially the twin towers as how they are referred to, Dindin Santiago and Jaja Santiago who are sisters and who are playing for the said school as well.
The sisters have also joined the national team of the Philippines.
The team's mascot was sourced from their school's official student publication. They wear Blue and Gold.
Ateneo De Manila University
Ateneo Lady Blue Spikers or much known to be Lady Eagles, they are my favorite team in the UAAP volleyball games since I started watching it.
They had been playing as underdogs for the past years with UAAP however, after years of practice and training, they finally ended the 36-year title drought in the UAAP and won its first ever title in UAAP season 76 (2013–14).
Every year, the school recruits five high school students and in season 2010 as the school hit the jackpot when prized-rookie Alyssa Valdez was recruited that year.
Here's their winning moment:
Ateneo was the first Philippine school to adopt a mascot, conferred with the title "the King", the Blue Eagle is a reference to the "high-flying" Ateneo varsity teams which would "swoop down on the foe and sweep up the fields away" as a dominating force in the field of sports. Furthermore, there is some mythological significance to the eagle as a symbol of power.
Blue and White, being the colors of the school's patroness the Blessed Virgin Mary, were chosen as the school's colors. Thus blue and white are the colors of the uniforms of the varsity teams.
Some interesting games from the previous seasons:
